And so we come to another one of the big categories in this year's Grunter Awards for Excellence in Indie Publishing - Romance/Adventure. Almost every book has a romantic interest, but here, in this category I've tried to refine the choices to those books that principally promote romance as the main theme of the story. Naturally, therefore, you'll probably find some Chick-Lit in here, but since I've become a big fan of quality Chick-Lit, I make no apologies for that. So, who made it this year and why? Let's find out, shall we?

romance / adventure:

The first nominee in this category is a delightful debut novel titled; The Enemy Within by Nailini Warriar.

The Enemy Within, by Nalini Warriar, grabbed me very early on and captured my interest through to the end. The early story, of Sita, a young girl, growing up in rural India, with her whole life and all the opportunities that entailed, ahead of her, was captivating. The vivid descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells of India brought me there and keep me intrigued. All of Sita's dreams and hopes for the future are tempered by the knowledge that her parents, will in all likelihood chose a husband for her and she will have to adapt to the traditional life of a Hindu bride. When Anup, an engineer, living in Quebec, Canada is chosen as a good match for Sita, her fate is sealed. She leaves her home, with Anup for an exciting new life in Canada, determined to fall in love with this strange man who is now her husband. Despite all her efforts, Anup wants her for only her ability to look after him and satisfy his sexual needs.Alone, in a strange. new environment, Sita must learn to cope and flourish in this new world. She makes sure that she does and studies to achieve her Doctorate in Cell Biology. Despite all her academic and motherly success, Sita still finds herself achingly lonely and just longing for someone to love her, the way she wants to love. This is an intensely heart-warming and achingly sad story that is beautifully related by the author. As a reader, we can feel and ultimately empathise with Sita and her pain. I loved the writer's beautifully, descriptive prose and her ability to highlight the many dangers and pitfalls of someone from a different culture trying desperately to fit into her adopted society. A wonderful read and definitely well worth the five stars I have given it. I think this was Warriar's debut novel and suspect it was semi-autobiographical. I am now keen to see what else she has written and look forward to choosing more books by this talented author. Excellent job. ​

The Second nomination in the Romance/Adventure category comes from an old favourite of mine, Mary Crawford and is titled, simply: Tough

Regular readers of my reviews will be well aware that I am a big fan of Mary Crawford's books with their intertwined and interrelated characters, despite me clearly not being in her intended demographic. It will come as no surprise, therefore, that I loved her latest book, Tough (A Hidden Hearts Novel Book 5) In Tough, Crawford has continued her exploration of characters who have experienced difficult pasts and great emotional distress, prior to finding happiness, or characters who are physically disadvantaged in some way. In Tough, however, Crawford has pushed the envelope of her character's emotional angst, further than she has previously and the result is a triumph, in my opinion. We meet Savannah and Casey, who both have pasts they are not proud of. Savannah, separated from her sister by the authorities, after they were abandoned by their parents has suffered immense emotional, physical and sexual abuse in her life. She just wants to put the horror of the past behind her, but when she meets Casey, the restaurant owner who has his own past demons of life on the streets and drug abuse, she finally meets a kindred spirit. Although Crawford has delved deeper into the pits of depravity, than she has in her earlier books, she does it with care, concern, and respect for the victim. Reading Tough it is incredibly easy to identify with the pain and angst, both Savannah and Casey experienced. As an inspiration to others who are experiencing this type of pain and abuse, I think it really does hit the mark and I feel Crawford is to be congratulated for this. As an author, she has entered a new realm, in some respects, with these wonderful series of novels and I cannot wait to see where her enquiring mind will take us next. Excellent job and worth every one of the five stars I have awarded it. ​

The third and final nomination in today's category goes to an outstanding story by Anna Belfrage, titled; There Is Always a Tomorrow.

Alex Graham may have ended up in 17th Century Maryland by a quirk of time, but she has made her home there with her husband Matthew, their ten children and innumerable grandchildren. There is Always a Tomorrow by Anna Belfrage is the ninth book in the Graham Saga, which follows Alex after her journey back through time and her life in the 1600’s. The Graham’s farm an area in Maryland, which was once a Catholic stronghold, but has now been taken over by the puritanical Presbyterians who are rabidly anti Papist. Against this backdrop we also travel to England, where two of the Graham children are living and being looked after by Matthew’s brother. Also we follow Samuel, another Graham child who has been adopted by the local Indian tribe. The Graham’s close friend, a Catholic Priest, Carlos Munoz has been betrayed to the authorities by one of their own sons and the hunt is on to catch and deal with the one-legged priest.

Although There is Always a Tomorrow is the ninth book in this series, there is no need to have read the earlier books to enjoy this one. It stands alone as a self-contained story. I found Anna Belfrage’s characters to be well created and to each have a respective place within the story. My only problem was the sheer number of characters, with the children, grandchildren and sundry relatives often making me pause and say, “now who is that?”. Without being an expert on the period under writing, I felt the setting was authentic and the research done by the author comprehensive in understanding the locale, the feeling of the population and the general ambience of 17th Century Colonial America. I haven’t read any of Belfrage’s work before, but this was easy to read and exciting enough to keep me fully engaged throughout. I have little doubt I will read more of this author in the future. ​

...and the winner is!

This category was a real toughie to separate, but after much consideration and weighing the three books very carefully, I finally settled on awarding the 2017 Grunter Award in the Romance / Adventure category to Tough by Mary Crawford, principally because of her courage in addressing such a difficult topic in her novel. Congratulations Mary.

Well, there's only two categories left before the announcement of the SUPREME GRUNTER for 2017, but I'm afraid you're all going to have to wait for that till after Christmas, because I'm off to bask on the beautiful beaches of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, here in the Philippines, for a few days. I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful Indie authors whose books I've had the privilege to read and review over this past year and also to my dedicated readers who follow this blog and this website. May you all have a wonderful holiday season, celebrating it in the way most appropriate to your beliefs and my hope for 2018 for everyone is peace, understanding and most of all love. Love is what runs this world.

Till next time, have a wonderful, peace-filled day!

CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!

EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITIES LIFE PRESENTS TO YOU AND ALWAYS, ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!

Woohoo! Congrats. So well deserved. This book was amazing. Tough.... what can I say perfect title as it was a tough read. By that I mean tough on the emotional roller coaster it made me feel. Not your typical romance novel, much better!! Real life issues so expertly crafted into words with real life reactions and actions. Savannah is my hero!!

Reply

Grant Leishman

29/12/2017 18:15:17

Becca - you summed the book up better than me. Maybe you should be writing my reviews. Thanks so much for your comment and your support of Mary Crawford.